Beersmith has a nice, upscale atmosphere that is a welcome change from the rowdy experience that you get in most of Beijing's other brewpubs. I came in expecting that it would be a bit more expensive because of this, and would include a service charge since it is situated in a hotel. I would not have minded any of that, if the service had not been decidedly below-par.
Even sitting at the bar and only ordering a few beers and some hummus, I was given the impression that their staff were uninterested in helping anyone and that I was inconveniencing them by being so presumptuous as to ask for service. One waitress even let out a noticeable "sigh" when I put in my food order. So this is the level of service that warrants a service charge? Give me a break.
As for the beer, their only offering worth the sticker price is the IPA, which is really quite refreshing with a lovely crispness to it. It is certainly one of the better "standard" (hovering in the 6 perent ABV range, not overly hoppy) IPAs on tap in Beijing at the moment. The other things on tap, and I tried most of them, are major misses. Although I am not someone who expects all beers to have super-high gravity, their brews top out at the (I think) 6.5 percent ABV IPA. They could offer a bit more variety in this respect.
I am willing to give Beersmith a second chance, provided that they take some time to train their servers and branch out in terms of their beer offerings a bit. Overall, I think it is not unreasonable to expect decent service, and some variety in beer offerings, when asked to pay a service charge, especially given that most of their competitors in Beijing don't do this.
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